Case C-336/03

easyCar (UK) Ltd

v

Office of Fair Trading

(Reference for a preliminary ruling from the High Court of Justice of England and Wales, Chancery Division)

(Protection of consumers in respect of distance contracts – Directive 97/7/EC – Contracts for the provision of transport services – Concept – Car hire contracts)

Opinion of Advocate General Stix-Hackl delivered on 11 November 2004

Judgment of the Court (First Chamber), 10 March 2005.

Summary of the Judgment

Approximation of laws – Protection of consumers in respect of distance contracts – Directive 97/7 – Scope – Exemptions provided for under Article 3(2) – Contracts for the provision of transport services – Meaning – Contracts for the provision of car hire services – Included

(Parliament and Council Directive 97/7, Art. 3(2))

Article 3(2) of Directive 97/7 on the protection of consumers in respect of distance contracts is to be interpreted as meaning that ‘contracts for the provision of transport services’ can cover all contracts governing services in the field of transport, including those involving an activity which does not include, as such, the carriage of the customer or his goods, but which is aimed at enabling the customer to perform that carriage. That concept thus includes contracts for the provision of car hire services the essential nature of which is the making available to the consumer of a means of transport.

(see paras 23, 27, 31, operative part)

JUDGMENT OF THE COURT (First Chamber) 10 March 2005 (1)

(Protection of consumers in respect of distance contracts – Directive 97/7/EC – Contracts for the provision of transport services – Meaning – Contracts for car hire)

In Case C-336/03,REFERENCE to the Court under Article 234 EC by the High Court of Justice of England and Wales, Chancery Division (United Kingdom), 21 July 2003, received at the Court on 30 July 2003, for a preliminary ruling in the proceedings

v

THE COURT (First Chamber),,

composed of P. Jann, President of the Chamber, K. Lenaerts, J.N. Cunha Rodrigues, K. Schiemann and M. Ilešič (Rapporteur), Judges,

Advocate General: C. Stix-Hackl,

having regard to the written procedure and further to the hearing on 29 September 2004,after considering the observations submitted on behalf of:

after hearing the Opinion of the Advocate General at the sitting on 11 November 2004,

gives the following

‘Does the term “contracts for the provision of ... transport ... services”, in Article 3(2) of [the directive], include contracts for the provision of car hire services?’

On those grounds, the Court (First Chamber) hereby rules:

[Signatures]